BEN THOMAS was left disappointed with an ‘uncharacteristic’ display from his Cheshire Phoenix players in their 91-78 reverse at Worcester Wolves.

Second best for much of the contest, the Nix were unable to match scoring power of the Wolves, who had five double-figure scorers and led from tip to buzzer in the contest.

Wolves dominated the offensive glass, dragging in 15 offensive rebounds and scoring 21 second chance points.

A burst of Cheshire scoring pulled the teams closer together at 69-61 entering the final quarter, but Wolves had enough in the tank to keep their visitors at bay.

CJ Gettys grabbed a 23-point haul and Malcolm Riley hit 21 points but Thomas’s side never looked like overhauling the Wolves winning margin.

Reflecting on the result, Thomas said: “It was very unlike us and uncharacteristic of how we’ve played so far this season.

“It’s fair to say that the better team won on the night and that we struggled to reach the levels we expect in games.

“We’ve been averaging 11 to 12 turnovers in games so far and our rebound figures have been in the high 40s.

“I felt like we didn't get anywhere near that at Worcester and the overall feeling is that we just weren’t good enough .

“We let them have too much of the play and allowed them to dictate the pace of the game far too often.

“We want to put that type of performance behind us now and we’ll be working hard throughout this week towards a massive double-header for us at the weekend.

“I’ll look at perhaps making one or two changes on the court for those games and adopt a different tactical approach for the games against Newcastle and Manchester.

“We’ll look at the areas where we need to address to ensure there are improvements next time out.”

 A mixed start to the season has left the Nix in eighth place in the BBL Championship standings after two wins and two defeats fom their league games this term.

For the Wolves it was a first win of the Championship season, with coach Paul James relieved that his side had broken their duck.

He said: “It’s great to get our first success in the league. We’ve only really played well in parts of matches before tonight.

“This was a more consistent display from us in a game that we had to win by hook or by crook.

“We had a nice spread of guys who got open looks and made their shots.”

Wrexham Warriors secured a 58-48 success over Deeside Dragons in their latest North Wales Senior League encounter.

Warriors led pretty much from tip to buzzer but really put the gas down in the third and fourth quarters to pull clear by a 10-point margin. Andy Morris was MVP for Wrexham while Julien Loste was Deeside’s MVP on the day.

The draw has been made for the first round of the NWBA Senior League Cup, with Cheshire Brewers receiving a bye into the second round.

All ties are over two legs, with Mold Magic firsts facing Wrexham Warriors, Deeside Dragons taking on Caernarfon Kings, and Mold Magic seconds facing Caernarfon Celts.

In the youth matches, Caernarfon Celts under 18s saw off Mold Magic 67-21 while in the under 16s competition, the Celts defeated Bebington Bulldogs 80-38.